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Type
Type is a distinct quality of weapons, but a variable set of attributes for armor. Weapons are always one Type; Armor gives protection against each of the three Types, values that remain the same from the time it is dropped, found, or forged. The three Types are Blunt, Edged, and Piercing. Entities' resistance to damage type varies between the three types so much that it would be an achievable challenge to keep only three weapons on hand, one of each Type of damage, and target the enemies' weaknesses in this regard instead of using Class or Affinity. This challenge will increase in difficulty as enemies become tougher while the bonuses stay roughly the same. There are also a few exceptions to the rule of Type vulnerability, too, notably Rosencrantz, Deaths, and the final boss. In such battles, there is no advantage to using one Type over another, and there are only elemental or Class weaknesses. Type bonuses of armor vary from piece to piece; it is thus advantageous to forge armor from stronger pieces. For example, Armets drop and are usually found at 4/6/4 (Blunt/Edged/Piercing). A 19/19/19 Armet can be made by combining a Tilt Glove, with its 12/12/12 bonuses, with a Missaglia, also 12/12/12. This is about the same as eight Armets, or their equivalent, and so balanced a set of Types as 4/6/4 is a little uncommon, to boot. So only grind for armor in the later game, but the accumulation of Type bonuses by Combining armor Equipments, an advantage with no parallel in Weapon Combinations is, at the very least, an amusing alternative to simply throwing away scrap armor. Type bonuses combine with formulas very similar to affinity bonuses. Bonuses are added together and multiplied by a percentage. The more similar the equipment ingredients are, the better the bonus, as in the example above. Similar materials, same equipments, and similar bonuses are multiplied by higher percentages. Armor is more difficult to maximize than weapons, but thereby much more powerful. It is very hard to overstate this. Class and Affinity increase is much more difficult to achieve with armor. Standing in front of enemies for longer than a few minutes, the player will discover a resounding answer to the question that may have tugged lightly at their mind like a passing breeze: do enemies have RISK too? Yes, my friend, they most certainly do. And now you will have to find some new, fresh enemies to fight, who are not all tuckered out and unable to hit you at all, to continue accumulating bonuses. Likewise, do enemy weapons and armor collect damage and bonuses? If you want clean weapon drops, do that separately from gaining your armor bonuses, or you may find inconvenient Human > Beast or Shield Gem alterations on your loot. Class and Affinity gains will of course make you increasingly difficult to damage. But there is a whole other variable statistic on armor that comes ready-made on weapons: Type. Weapons can be maximized by beating on dummies to get their affinities and class; easy and powerful. Grinding for drops to increase Armor Type requires hours but can make you literally invincible in the face of physical attacks. Maximizing Type on armor multiplies the difficulties of obtaining weapon blades by multiples of ten or even a hundred, depending on the recipe. Maximizing is not necessary to complete the game, and in fact it is less effective at the primary purpose of damage reduction (not dying) than Affinity is, inasmuch as the most dangerous killers in Vagrant Story tend to be spellcasters. On the other hand, the Resists from Type bonuses are much more powerful against physical attacks than merely higher Tiers of armor, which in turn are better than higher Materials. Higher Tiers tend strongly to have higher Type, and Type rarely disappoints. See also * Affinity, Class and Type in Vagrant Story * Combine * Material * Raising armor affinities and class in Vagrant Story * Raising weapon affinities and class in Vagrant Story * Workshop Category:Armor Category:Game Mechanics Category:Weapons Category:Workshop Category:Guides